| Patent application number | Description | Published |
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| 20090209852 | Systems and Methods for Treating a Patient Using Guided Radiation Therapy or Surgery - Systems and methods for locating and tracking a target, i.e., measuring the position and/or rotation of a target during setup and treatment of a patient in guided radiation therapy applications for the head and neck. One embodiment is directed toward a device having a body and markers, such as excitable transponders and/or radiographic fiducials, fixable in or on the body for localizing the body. For example, the body can be a mouthpiece body having a channel configured to receive a patient's teeth such that the mouthpiece is repeatedly and consistently placed in the same relative position in the patient when the patient bites down on the mouthpiece. The transponders can be alternating magnetic transponders and the fiducials can be gold seeds. Other embodiments include a device having a two-piece body, a first piece of the body having excitable transponders and a second piece of the body having radiographic fiducials. | 08-20-2009 |
| 20090216113 | Apparatus and Methods for Using an Electromagnetic Transponder in Orthopedic Procedures - Electromagnetic transponders as markers are used to localize and guide orthopedic procedures including: knee replacement, hip replacement, shoulder replacement, damaged bone reconstruction, and spine surgery, and more particularly, to guide orthopedic surgical navigation and alignment techniques and instruments. For example, the marker could further be used in any number of guides or templates that attach to the bony anatomy, such as a surgical guide, cutting guide, cutting jig, resection block and/or resurfacing guide. Further, the marker could be incorporated into an existing intramedullary guide rod for a femur and an extramedullary guide rod for a tibia in a knee replacement surgery; or into an external surgical guide system, or the marker could eliminate the need for an external template altogether. According to yet another anticipated use of the tracking system, the marker could be used in conjunction with or replace an optical alignment system. | 08-27-2009 |
| 20090299174 | INSTRUMENTS WITH LOCATION MARKERS AND METHODS FOR TRACKING INSTRUMENTS THROUGH ANATOMICAL PASSAGEWAYS - Instruments and methods for tracking such instruments in a human patient. One embodiment of an instrument in accordance with the invention comprises an elongated body, such as an elongated flexible member, which has a distal section configured to be passed through a vessel or other passageway in a human. The instrument can further include a lumen through the distal section and a magnetic marker having a transponder at the distal section. The transponder includes a circuit configured to be energized by a wirelessly transmitted magnetic excitation energy and to wirelessly transmit a magnetic location signal in response to the excitation energy. The magnetic marker, for example, can be attached to or otherwise integral with the instrument. | 12-03-2009 |
| 20090306728 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR STIMULATING AND/OR SENSING NEURONS IN A PATIENT - Instruments and method of using instruments for implanting electrodes into a patient. The instrument can include a body configured to be implanted into a patient, an electrode contact carried by the body, and a marker carried by the body. The electrode contact has an electrically conductive surface exposed at a location along the body to sense electrical activity and/or deliver electrical stimulation to the target neural structure. The marker can include a transponder configured to be energized by a wirelessly transmitted excitation energy and to wirelessly transmit a location signal in response to the excitation energy. The instrument is tracked as it is implanted into the patient by time multiplexing the wirelessly transmitted excitation energy and the location signal such that the absolute location of the marker can be determined in real time. | 12-10-2009 |
| 20100282983 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR POSITIONING PATIENTS DURING TRACKING OF TARGETS IN RADIATION THERAPY AND OTHER MEDICAL APPLICATIONS - One embodiment of such a system comprises a sensor assembly mounted in a fixed location relative to a machine isocenter. According to another embodiment, the sensor assembly includes a fixed mounting bracket and an articulating arm allowing movement of the sensor assembly while allowing translation of the sensor assembly location with reference to the machine isocenter According to still another embodiment, the sensor assembly is positioned in a fixed relationship relative to the patient support assembly, mounted below the patient support assembly, as an overlay on the patient support assembly or integral to and forming a portion of the patient support assembly. The sensor assembly location is referenced to the machine isocenter through the relation of the table to the machine isocenter or through an independent locating system for the sensor assembly. According to yet another embodiment, the sensor assembly is located relative to machine isocenter by conventional imaging techniques. | 11-11-2010 |
| 20100317968 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR REAL-TIME TRACKING OF TARGETS IN RADIATION THERAPY AND OTHER MEDICAL APPLICATIONS - Systems and methods for tracking targets in real time for radiation therapy and other applications. In one embodiment, a method includes collecting position information of a marker implanted within a patient at a site relative to the target at a time t | 12-16-2010 |
| 20110119893 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SENSING FIELD STRENGTH SIGNALS TO ESTIMATE LOCATION OF A WIRELESS IMPLANTABLE MARKER - Embodiments of the invention are directed to an apparatus for use in a system that senses an excitable wireless target capable of being implanted in a body or tissue. The apparatus includes multiple electromagnetic field sensors arranged approximately in a common plane, and multiple sense signal output paths coupled to the sensors. Each one of the sensors and corresponding output paths is configured to provide an output signal representing at least a portion of an electromagnetic field provided by the marker, where the output signal is proportional to a component of the field at the sensor, where that component is substantially perpendicular to the plane. Various other configurations regarding this apparatus, as well as the overall system and methods of exciting and receiving signals from wireless markers, are also disclosed. | 05-26-2011 |
